Washing machine



June 3, 1924. 1,496,305

H. W. DOUGHTY ET AL WASHING momma Fild April 8; 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IINV T0186 By M.$W

H. w. DOUGHTY ET AL Jung 3, I924.

WASHING MACHINE Filed Anril 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNE Y PatentsJune 3, 192 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERMAN w. DOUGHTY AND cnonen DAVIS, or BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK, As SIGNORSTO THE NINETEEN HUNDRED WASHER COMPANY, or BINGHAMTON', NEW

YORK, A CORPORATION or NEW YORK.

WASHING MACHINE.

Application filed April 8,

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HERMAN WI DOUGIP. Ti; and GEORGE L. Dnvrsycitizensof the United States, and residents of Binghamton, county ofBroome,andlStatefof New York, have jointly invented certainnew and usefulImprovements in lVashing Machines, of which the following isadescription.

This invention relates to washing machinesfor Washing clothes, andparticularly to machines of this character which are operated by poweras gdistinguished fromhand Operated machines. Certain features of ourinvention, however, are applicable alike to machines of both ofthesetypes, as will appear hereinafter. I f

The primary object of our invention is to provide a machine of. thecharacter de scribed, 'whichshall be at once accessible,

convenient and eiiicient.

The particular type of machine illustrated and described herein iswhatis sometimes called the agitator type. That is to say, it includes astationarytub for receiving the clothes'to' be washed and the cleans ingfluid, such as soapy water, and a mova ble[ agitator within the tub; andadapted by its movement to agitate the cleansing fluid and the'clothesand thus cause the cleansing fluid to penetrate the clothes and cleanthem. Heretofore theagitator in machines of this type has generally beenso arranged as to overlie the clothes during the Washing operation. Thishas itnecessary to remove the agitator before clothes could be placed inthe tub or removed therefrom. In order to eliminate this inconveniencewe have placed the agitator adja cent the bottom of the tub, so that itunderlies the clothes, and \ve have discovered that an agitator soplaced is more efficient if of an unsymmetrical design. Accordingly itis one object of our invention to provide an agitator which is adaptedto underlie the clothes, and which is so designed as to render it highlyefficient.

Another object of our invention istoprovide novel and efficientactuating meansfor the agitator.

Still another object of our invention isto provide improved meansfor..mounting the agitator on its actuating shaft.

With these and other objects in. view, as will appear hereinafter, ourinvention con- \for 1922. Serial Nb. 550,607.

sists in the parts, combinations and devices described herein, and moreparticularly fined in the appended claims.

I Referring to the drawings? Fig. 1 is'an elevation of our improvedmachine, partly in section; Ifilig. 2 is a planjof the agitator;

' Fig. 8 is a horizontalsectional view taken on the line III-III of Fig.1;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the parts'shown inFig. 3; Fig. 5, is anenlarged sectional view of the chain tightening device shown in Figs. 3andhand g Fg. 6 is a sectional view on line VI-VI ofFigziZ.

In the drawing 10 designates the frame supporting our as for example,that shown in the drawing (Fig. 1) wherein it isprovided with. threesupporting legs 11. j Upon this frame is mounted the tub 12, which maybe of any desired shape and construction. As herein shown the tub ,iscylindrical in design. It is open at the top where it is preferablyprovided with a removable or hinged cover (not means (which we willdescribe later) being provided for oscillating it through the verticalshaft 15. This, shaft 15 projects through the bottom Of thetub 12.Leakage is preventedby the'provision of a stufling box such as indicatedat 16. We preferably mount the agitator on the shaft 15 in thefollowing..man11er. lVe seoure 'thef agitator 13 in any. suitable.manner,,as indicated at ;17

toa spider 18- of any suitable rigid material, the agitator beingpreferably domed at thecenter, as indicated at 19, so. asv to overlievthe spider. This spider 18 in turn improved machine, which frame may beof any suitable design,

will be noted that the vanes or ribs 14 are' unsymmetrically arranged.The purpose of so arranging the vanes is that wehave found that if theagitator surface is symmetrical there is a marked tendency for a singleone of the many pieces of laundry in the tub to cling to the .agitato-r,an action which interferes seriously with the efficiency of the machinein washing. This action is apparently due to the fact that theoscillation of the agitator sets up currents in the fluid contents ofthe tub w'hich move centrifugally of the agitator. And if the agitatoris symmetrical these currents act with substantially equal forcethroughout the periphery of the agitator and tend to stretch the mostavailable piece of laundry over the surface of the agitator and keep itthere. I

e have discovered, however, that by arranging the agitatorunsymmetrically the equality of the currents is disturbed and as aresult the piece of cloth in contact with the agitator will not beretained there but will be moved off to one side by the unequalcurrentsv acting upon it.

Many different unsymmetrical designs of agitators will accomplish thisresult and therefore come within the scope of our invention. Theparticular unsymmetrical design illustrated in Fig. 2 is formed byspacing one consecutive pair of vanes, such for example as the vanes 14,14 farther apart than other similar pairs. We have found that by usingan agitator of this type no single piece of cloth remains in contactwith the agitator for anundue length of time.

Coming now to the means for actuating the agitator, we provide'the shaft15 at a point 'below the bottom of the tank 12 with a drum 21 (Figs. 1,3 and 4:). Mounted adjacent this drum is the connecting rod 22 which isadapted to be .reciproc ated by the crank 23. This crank 23 iscontrolled by the clutch 24 and when the clutch is engaged the crank 23is rotated by the vertical shaft which in turn is operated by the motor26, or any other suitable source of power.

The clutch 24 which we have provided is novel, so far as we are aware.It comprises the collar 24; which is pinned or secured in any otherdesired manner to the vertical shaft 25, and the collar 24 which isintegral with the crank 23 loosely mounted on said shaft. The collars24, 24*, have coacting clutch teeth which, when the crank is elevated asshown in Fig. 1, en gage to drive the crank. hen, however, the crank isdepressed the teeth are disengaged and the crank remains idle. Anysuitable and convenient means, such as the hand lever 24 with itsconnections may be employed for elevating and depressing the crank 23 toengage and disengage the clutch.

The advantage of the clutch which we have described above residesprimarily in its ease and economy of manufacture. It requires no keys,keyways or splines. All that is necessary, so far as theshaft 25 isconcerned, is the securing of the collar 24 thereto, as by means of thpin illustrated.

The means for operatively connecting the connecting rod 22 to the drum21, as herein shown, comprise two flexible members 27, 28. The member 27may be in the form of a single chain 27, one end of which is secured toth drum at 29 and the other end of which is secured to the connectingrod 22 at a point 30 which is toward the crank end of the latter. Theother flexible member 28 may be in the form of a double chain, one endof which is secured to the drum at the point 32 and the other end ofwhich is secured to the connecting rod 22 at the point 33 which is at ortoward the free end of the connecting rod. As will appear from thedrawing, the flexible members 27 and 28 are so arranged that they areadapted to wind up on the drum 21 in opposite directions.

By virtue of the construction just described the drum 21 and through itthe agitator 13 are oscillated in a regular and quiet manner. 7

In the course of continued oscillation of a part such as the agitator13, considerable strain is placed upon the driving means, due largely tothe rather sudden reversals in the direction of movement of the "parts.As a result,'if no provision were made to guard against it, the flexiblemembers might become loose. The result would be an inelficient and noisydrive. Accordingly we have provided means for automatically takup anyslack that may occur in the flexible members.

This automatic take-up means, 'as herein shown, comprises a bolt 33, oneend '34 of which is adapted to engage the flexible member 27 and theotherend of which passes through the eye 30 secured to the connectingrod 22. The end 35 is 's'crewthreaded and provided with a nut 36whiclnjin c'ooperationwith the eye 30, secures the'fiexible member 27 tothe connecting rod. For ke'eping this nut 36 tight we provide a springsuch as 37, (Figs. 3, 4 and 5), one end of which is secured to theconnecting rod 22 at 38 and the other end of which engages a notch inthe nut 36. During the reciprocation of the connecting rod 22 there areintervals of time, such as those occurring upon the reversal ofmovement, during which the flexible members are not subjected to tensionby the normal operation of the machine. At such times, if there is anyslack in the flexible members, the spring 37 will rotate the nut 36 andtake it up. Thus the arrangement described serves to maintain theflexible members 27, 28, taut at all times.

The washing machine herein shown has been found in practice to be veryeflicient as a clothes washing mechanism and very convenient to operateand keep clean. The agitator being at the bottom and there being noobstruction in the tub above the agitator,

it is a very simple matter to place clothes in the tub and to removethem therefrom. We are aware that agitators or' dollys have heretoforebeen placed adjacent the bottom of the stationary tub of a washingmachine. But so far as we are aware we are the first so to arrange theoperating mechanism of an agitator which is located adjacent the bottomof the tub that there is no obstruction above the agitator. Also, theagitator as a whole may be readily removed from the tub when desired,for the purpose of cleaning.

The actuating mechanism which we have provided for oscillating theagitator are particularly efflcient and noiseless in operation, due inpart to the automatic take-up means which we have provided.

modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed.

What we claim 1s: 1. In a wash ng mach1ne,a container, an

agitator located therein, and means for actuating said agitator,'saidagitator inclnding a plurality of vanes of which those located atoneport-ion of the agitator are spaced differently than the remainder.

' 2. In a washing machine, a container, an agitator located therein,andmeans for actuatingsaid agitator, said agitator including a pluralityof vanes between one consecutive pairof which there is a greaterdistance than there is between certain other consecutive pairs. 1

3. In a washing machine, a container, an agitator located adjacent thebottom thereof, and means for oscillating said agitator, said agitatorbeing provided on its upper surface with a plurality of radiallydisposed vanes between one consecutive pair of which there is a greaterdistance than there is between certain other consecutive pairs.

HERMAN w. DOUGHTY. GEORGE L. DAVIS.

